June is Homeownership Month

Most renters share the dream of owning their own home someday, as do most of the clients we serve in our programming efforts to provide extensive financial education and housing counseling to prepare them for their future goals, especially homeownership. 

Financial education and housing counseling is crucial toward making a difference in the lives of residents who are at risk of losing their homes through foreclosure, vulnerable to identity theft and debt reduction scams, and/or unable to create and manage household budgets that foster credit repair and asset building, such as homeownership. 

Homeownership has the unique potential to break the cycle of poverty for low-income families, especially for the next generation. Low-income families that become homeowners often accumulate wealth and become more self-sufficient, depending less on state and federally supported assistance programs. They have improved mental and physical health and become more active in their communities. These families are also able to offer their children a greater sense of stability. This translates into children often making better grades and staying in school longer. In addition, success for low-income homeowners improves with pre- and post-purchase financial and homeowner education and counseling. Financially informed, low-income families with mortgages of appropriate size and with reasonable terms prove to be successful homeowners, benefiting themselves, their children, their neighborhoods, and the communities in which they live. 

IHA has helped more than 300 families attain their dream of homeownership. Of these, approximately 60% are single mothers who wanted to be strong role models for their children – to show that “where there is a will there is a way” to reach your goals in life. More than 80% of these households needed financial counseling before they became qualified for a mortgage. Some of these households took several years before they were ready, but they refused to give up on their dream, and IHA provided the guidance they required every step of the way. 

Homeownership programs like IHA’s help to reduce, even eliminate, the racial and income barriers that have historically and still currently exist, allowing families increased access to neighborhoods with better school districts and safer living conditions. For more information on IHA’s current homeownership program, please visit https://www.interfaithhousing.org/purchase-repair-homeownership.